An update of sorts

[slycat]

First off, I've indulged in a bit of retail therapy.  I've bought myself a Fuji FinePix E550 Zoom camera.  I've had my eye on this little beauty for some time now but only money really stopping me from getting it.  While the money situation has very much improved, I still shouldn't be buying this kinda thing until my debts are fully paid off.  However, I've had this product as a bookmark in my browser for the price compare page and it's now down to £180 which is a bargain for such a camera.  Also I'll be going to the Brighton meet on Saturday and I thought it'd be good to have some new photos to add to my http://www.furmeets.co.uk site.  Anyway, I've now placed myself an order for it from 7 Day Shop.com, complete with a 512Mb memory card (would have got 1Gb but they were out of stock) and a case for the camera (don't want to get scratches on my new camera!).  As far as the spec of the camera goes, it's 6.3megapixel combined with a 4x optical zoom (which is 1x more than most compacts).  Despite it's great price and specs, it produces some very impressive quality shots.  The quality of the shots was my main criteria from my next camera as my old Kodak DC215 being 1megapixel (my phone produces larger shots than that now) produced really grainy and blurry shots.  Many reviews on the net say that this is the camera to get as it has impressive quality photos, good price and impressive specs :).

As I mentioned earlier, I'll be at the Brighton fur meet which is being organised by agrajag.  I'll be travelling with my brother who's driving and bungle_bear (still one more space in the car if anyone wants a lift from the Southampton area).  My brother has recently taken an interest in furry again as he used to go to the old Yateley meets before I even went to the London meets.  It should be... interesting with my brother there.  I'm looking forward to the meet regardless cos it's in Brighton and I really like the place with all it's shops, amusements, relaxed atmosphere and the sea.  I doubt it'll be a large meet anyway.

I've been doing more work on the site which I have already plugged in this LJ post, http://www.furmeets.co.uk/.  I've added on little profile pages for each furry group so you can see instantly what meets are coming up in your area and what the meets can be like (need something to say about the Northern and Midlands meets as I've never been to them before).  Need to try and get more interest in the site as it seems many people still don't know about it and I think it's rather handy.  Don't forget that it's also where all the meet photos from http://www.fursuit.co.uk/ have moved to now as they needed a better home.

Weight wise, I have got down to the astonishing (for me) 17st 3lb.  However that was on Sunday and I had Pizza Hut on Monday meaning I'm back up to 17st 5lb.  However, if I can continue to lose weight, I may even be able to buy jeans with smaller waist sizes.  Just to see 16st on the scales would be impressive enough :).  Illness can be good for some things, such as weight loss.  I think I'm also going to lose more weight as my parents are off on holiday this week and next, meaning I eat when I'm hungry, rather than when it's meal time.

Recent minor purchases have included the new Gorillaz album, Demon Days.  Having bought my copy from Play.com, I got the limited DVD edition which not only gives you a bonus audio track (The Swagga) on the DVD combined with the Feel Good Inc video, but you also get a "key" to unlock a part of the Gorillaz website and get another bonus track (Happy Landfill).  I've had the MP3s of the advance version of the album for about 2 months now but now I have the CD, the album is certainly growing on me.  Initially, I was rather skeptical as the music was less upbeat as their first album, but as I listen to it more, I can't get enough of it.

Another CD I recieved was the soundtrack for Zatoichi.  I was inspired to get it after my brother's recent soundtrack binge (I think he must have in excess of 50 soundtracks now).  I'm very happy with the purchase as I really enjoyed the music from the film, especially the bits where people in the background of the film appeared to be making the music and also the impressive finale.

Ah yeah, while I'm thinking of random things to write about, I should mention how I've been since I returned to work as I was rather nervous about returning.  Whilst work has been rather busy as one of the support people is still off work, it's been good.  I've not got myself into too much trouble and the work is getting done.  I always worry far too much about some things... need to change that really.

Oh and finally, I've taken advantage keihound's offer to open up comissions and have requested a character sheet for "SlyCat" which I could in the future use to order a new fursuit with. If I did get a new fursuit (wouldn't be for a while), I'd most likely get it done by chapeljax as his style is really what I'm after :).

Comments

[xendragon.livejournal.com]

I think you should be less guilty about buying stuff for yourself, if you have the money and the debts can wait a lil longer without too much hassle then what's the problem! :) Life's too short man, might as well enjoy stuff.

[slycat.livejournal.com]

I feel guilty about it cos it's that very attitude that got me knee deep in debts in the first place.

[keihound.livejournal.com]

I shant dissapoint you, sir ;)

[slycat.livejournal.com]

I'll be sure to give it a good testing when I receive it. There are quite some impressive sample images available though, have a look here: http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews_fuji_finepix_e550_7.php